Attatchment

Question 1

What was the study of attachment stages?

Answer 1

Schaffer and Emerson ‘64

Longitudinal study, 60 Glaswegian babies observed at home (largely) by mothers,
To record separation distress and stranger anxiety Visited every month (12 months) and again at 18 months
Findings: Findings: 1) Sensitive responsiveness -attachment was to caregiver who responded
appropriately to signals, not the one who fed them
-found out the stages of attachment

Question 2

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the attachment studies

Answer 2

-High validity – no demand characteristics, babies can’t guess the aim of study
-real world application-when starting day care

-parent bias could effect validity
-low population validity-some attachments happen earlier in collectivist cultures
-hard to study asocial babies

Question 3

What are the stages of attachment?

Answer 3

Asocial
Indiscriminate stage
Specific stage
Multiple attachments

Question 4

What is the A stage?

Answer 4

Asocial stage:

first few weeks, babies respond in same way to humans and objects

Question 5

What is the I stage?

Answer 5

Indiscriminate stage:

2- 6 months. Preference for familiar people, no stranger/separation anxiety

Question 6

What is S stage in attachment

Answer 6

Specific stage:
7 months with one primary attachment figure. 65% mother, 3% father

Question 7

What is the M stage in attachment

Answer 7

Multiple attachments :

(8 months+) By 12 months most babies form several attachments. By 18 months 31% have five or more and 75% to father

Question 8

What is reciprocity

Answer 8

Parent and infant respond to the other’s signals and each elicits a response from the other, like a sustained conversation
-three months

Question 9

What is interactional synchrony

Answer 9

Mother and infant reflect / mirror both the actions and emotions of the other and do this in a co-ordinated (synchronised) way
2 weeks

Question 10

What is play in the role of the father

Answer 10

-Quality of the play from fathers is linked to the quality of later attachment
- fathers have a different role to mothers and need to be more of a play mate then meeting emotional needs

Question 11

Role of the father study theories: G

Answer 11

Grossman 2002
-fathers role is different to mothers but is still important
-infant-mother attachment affects teen relationships
-the quality of fathers play attachment affects the quality of teens relationships and attachments

Question 12

Role of the father study: G

Answer 12

Grossman 2002
Procedure: Longitudinal study following 44 families from infancy to 16 years old. Comparing father and mother’s
contribution to children’s attachment experiences at 6, 10, 16

Findings: Fathers’ play sensitivity is a better predictor of the child’s long-term attachment representation than the early
infant–father security of attachment

Question 13

Study of role of the father: F

Answer 13

Fields 1978
-Fathers can be responsive primary caregivers. Key to attachment is responsiveness of adult (e.g. smiling) not gender
Procedure: Caregiver-infant interactions filmed and compared.
Findings: fathers can be primary care givers just as mothers can

Question 14

Role of the father studies strengths and weaknesses

Answer 14

-Fathers don’t have a distinct role – research shows children without fathers are no different to peers.
-observations may be biased- gender stereotypes- fathers are meant to be stricter
-Hormones (e.g. oestrogen) may predispose women to certain caring roles
-Researchers address different issues on father’s role-can’t actually answer what the role of the father is
-+ Economic implications – Fathers have important role so may want to stay home longer too, mothers feel less of a responsibility to stay home all the time

Question 15

Caregiver- infant interactions study

Answer 15

Meltzoff and Moor 1977
Interactional synchrony
-Procedure – Adult displayed one of three facial expressions, e.g. tongue protrusion. Child and adult both filmed from
multiple angles. Watched in slow motion.
-Findings – Clear association between expression of adult and action of the child. High inter-observer reliability - 0.92.

Question 16

Strengths and weaknesses of caregiver-infant study

Answer 16

+real world application- helps develop attachments
+no demand characteristics- infants are too young- validity
+well controlled procedures- validity
-hard to investigate infant behaviour- can’t ask questions
-socially sensitive research-has implication with mothers returning to work suggesting they stay off entirely for a good attachment

Question 17

Animal studies- L

Answer 17

Lorenz 1952- imprinting- animal attachments and bonds
-Procedure – 12 goose eggs, six saw mother within hours of hatching, six hatched in incubator and saw Lorenz
-findings – goslings followed whichever was the first moving object they saw within 12-18 hours (imprinting).
First bond affected mating preferences in later life (sexual imprinting). This was permanent / irreversible
-Conclusion – imprinting occurs in critical period, no attachment if outside that time

Question 18

Strengths and weaknesses to animal studies: L

Answer 18

-Generalising birds to humans is doubtful- attachment is different in different mammals
-Questioning Lorenz’s conclusions – sexual imprinting wasn’t permanent. Preferences changed when shown chickens guiton et al
-Supporting evidence for imprinting– chicks imprinted on washing-up gloves- first thing they saw- guiton et al

Question 19

Animal study: H

Answer 19

Harlow 1958
-16 Rhesus monkeys raised with two wire ‘surrogate mothers’. One wire and one cloth-covered. Preferences (time spent) were recorded. Response to fearful stimuli also recorded as further measure of attachment
-All infants preferred cloth-covered mother to wire one whether it provided milk or not). All went to cloth mothers if fearful. Clung to them for ~20 hours per day
-comfort contact is more important than food in attachment

Question 20

Animal study: H variations

Answer 20

Variations include raising in monkeys isolation or with just a cloth or wire mother and following them up long term. Findings: Monkeys have a critical period of 90 days, there were long term effects on later interactions if missed, e.g. violent, bullied and issues mating.

Question 21

Strengths and weaknesses to animal study: H

Answer 21

+real life application- attachment it’s important and it’s absence can have long term effects
-ethical issues- the monkeys suffered
-generalising monkeys to humans
- Internal validity. Faces of model mothers different in early experiments

Question 22

Explanations of attachment: Learning theory

Answer 22

Dollard and Millers theory
-children learn to love (attach to) whoever provides food
-Unconditioned stimulus
(UCS) of food produces an unconditioned response (UCR) feeling of pleasure. The caregiver, a neutral
stimulus (NS), is paired with food (UCS) and is associated with the UCS. NS becomes a conditioned
stimulus (CS), and produces pleasure, a conditioned response (CR) in the baby even without food
-Operant conditioning – Crying is reinforced because it produces caregiver response (feeding).
This positively reinforces infant behaviours that bring the mother close as it is rewarded
-

Question 23

What is learning theory drive reduction

Answer 23

The idea that attachment is a secondary drive learned by association of caregiver with hunger satisfaction (primary drive)

Question 24

Strengths and weaknesses of learning theory in attachment

Answer 24

+some elements of conditioning may be involved
-attachment animal studies- Lorenz and Harlow- attachment doesn’t depend on feeding
-human studies- the primary attachment is not always the person who feeds the infant
-reductionist- ignores other theories,

Question 25

Explanations of attachment: BMT

Answer 25

bowlbys monotropic theory
Attachment is an innate and adaptive system, like imprinting

Social releasers – babies are born with innate cute behaviours and characteristics to help unlock attachment.
• Critical period of around two years ( 30 months) – Child is sensitive to forming bonds until this point,
after this it is much harder.
• Monotropy – A special bond with one caregiver (the mother) is different and more important than other bonds. Continual care leads to better attachment. Father’s role is economic.
• Internal working model – First (monotropic) bond, in the critical period, gives a mental representation (a schema/blueprint/expectation) of what relationships are like.
• These expectations impact later relationships and parenting

Question 26

Strengths and weaknesses of BMT

Answer 26

+support from animal studies- critical periods
+support from social releases- babies are upset if social releases are ignored
-father has important role not just economic but play
-Socially sensitive – Pressures women to stay home
-influence of characteristics

Question 27

What are the three types of attachment

Answer 27

Avoidant- type A- explores freely, no secure base, little or no separation anxiety and doesn’t need comfort

Secure-type B- secure base, moderate stranger anxiety and separation anxiety, easily comforted by mother

Resistant- type c- explores less, seeks proximity, high stranger and separation anxiety resist comfort when reunited

Parenting style influences attachment type

Question 28

Strange situation study

Answer 28

Mary Ainsworth (1969)
• Controlled observation in lab – assessing quality of caregiver-infant attachment.
• Infant reactions recorded: separation anxiety, reunion
behaviour, stranger anxiety, proximity seeking,
exploration/secure base behaviour.
• Seven episodes (~3 minutes long, ~22 minutes total),
e.g. stranger enters, caregiver leaves, caregiver
returns, stranger leaves, caregiver leaves, stranger returns, caregiver returns, stranger leaves

Findings: three types of attachments
Type A- avoidant- 22%
Type B- secure 66%
Type c- resistant 12%

Parenting styles influences the type of attachment

Question 29

Strengths and weaknesses of the strange situation

Answer 29

+high predictable validity- attachment types linked to later outcome
+real world application
+test reset reliability- test was retaken at age 6 and 200% of secure infants still showed secure attachment
-culture bound tests- indigenous cultured pride clinginess as a positive thing to influence
-low internal validity - can vary from parent to parent
-there are other attachment types

Question 30

Cross culture variations

Answer 30

Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988)
Procedure – meta-analysis strange situation, 32 studies, from 8 countries – USA, UK, Germany, Netherlands,
Israel, Japan, China, Sweden. 1990 infants.
Findings
• Secure attachment most common everywhere (range 50% in China to 75% in Britain).
• Germany had highest numbers of insecure avoidant
• More insecure resistant in collectivist cultures (e.g. Japan, Israel)
• Differences within cultures much bigger than between cultures (150%)

Question 31

Strengths and weaknesses of cross culture variation study

Answer 31

+meta analysis- large sample sizes increases internal validity
-culture bias of strange situation
-not really cross culture- only 5 collectivist cultured included compared to 27 individualist
-confounding variables- role of temperament is more important than strange situation

Question 32

Romanian orphans case studies- R

Answer 32

Rutter et al-
Procedure – 165 Romanian orphans adopted in UK.
Natural experiment, longitudinal (followed up 4,6,11,15).
Findings- If before 6 months mean IQ of 102; after 2 years, 77 (age 11).
Disinhibited attachment and physical underdevelopment.
Conclusion: Maybe a sensitive period, rather than a critical period

Question 33

Romanian orphan study: Z

Answer 33

Zeanah et al. Bucharest early intervention project
Procedure – Strange situation, assessed 95 institutionalised children, 12-31 months old, control
of 50.
Findings – 19% secure attachment, 65% disorganised attachment type.

Question 34

Strengths and weaknesses of Romanian orphan studies

Answer 34

+real life application- helped improve care in institutions
+ Few confounding variables – Infants have no early trauma
-Infants not randomly assigned to conditions– sociable babies might be adopted earlier
-long term effects not entirely clear
-Generalisability issues– Romanian orphanages had unusually poor care, differs from different countries institutions

Question 35

Bowlbys maternal deprivation theory

Answer 35

Bowlby’s (1953) Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis proposed that a nurturing mother figure is necessary for healthy psychological/ emotional development like vitamins & proteins for physical health.
Maternal deprivation is loss of emotional care due to multiple or a prolonged separation in the critical period
Consequences of maternal deprivation:
An inability to form attachments in the future (see the Internal Working Model)
Affectionless psychopathy (inability to feel remorse)
Delinquency (behavioural problems in adolescence)
Problems with Cognitive Development

Question 36

Key study in maternal deprivation

Answer 36

Bowlby (1944) 44 juvenile thieves
Procedure – Bowlby interviewed 44 young thieves and their families. Compared to a control group of 44 disturbed children.
Findings – Of the thieves, 14 were affectionless psychopaths (APs). Of these, 12 separated from mothers before 2 years old.
Conclusion: Separation (deprivation) causes AP.

Question 37

Strengths and weaknesses of maternal deprivation theory

Answer 37

+real world applications- parents can take time off work and have longer visits in hospitals
+seen in institutions- lower iq when abandoned in institutions compared to those with mother figures
-counter evidence found
-flawed evidence- researcher bias- researcher did the interviews

Question 38

Influence of early attachment on later relationships- IWM

Answer 38

Internal working model:

-Parenting style is based on IWM, so attachment type passed on in families
-Positive early attachment –> people expect positive later relationships
-The first attachment is a template for future relationships. Provides an internal working model- bowlby
-secure infants form better attachments and are less likely to be bullies
-IWM influences adult romantic relationships

Question 39

Influence on early attachment affecting later life study: H+S

Answer 39

Hazan and Shaver (1987) Procedure – analysed 620 replies to a ‘love quiz’ in
‘Rocky Mountain News’. 1) Assess early attachment 2) Assess current
relationships and relationship beliefs
Findings – 56% classed as secure infants who had long lasting relationships
compared to 25% insecure-avoidant infants who feared intimacy in
adulthood.

Question 40

Influence to early attachment on later relationships: S

Answer 40

Simpson et al (2015) Procedure – Longitudinal study of 78 p’s from infancy to
20s.
Findings Attachment type predict social competence as primary age
children, teens and romantic relations in 20s.

Question 41

Strengths and weaknesses of early- later life study

Answer 41

+research support- impacts on parenting, bullying and romance all linked to IWM
-validity issues- self reports- people may be dishonest
-Exaggerates influence - Attachments in infancy not always that important later